Metal Review – Undead Creep – The Ever-Burning Torch (2011)

Hailing from the depths of hell, comes Undead Creep with their brand of death metal for their release The Ever-Burning Torch. Okay, actually, they are from Italy, but “the depths of hell” definitely sounds better to describe a death metal band. Regardless, with their latest release, Undead Creep does a lot of things right.

The album grabs your attention quickly and keeps you in a stranglehold unwilling to let go for the length of their release. I wish that all I could say were nice things about this one, but the experience is sort of bitter sweet. Right off the bat, I will say that The Ever-Burning Torch is a release worth getting your hands on. It is a solid effort by Undead Creep and I have no issues saying that in any way. On the downside, this release will not appeal to fans who are seeking a fresh sound as it forces you to draw parallels to more established death metal bands that have been doing the same thing, but better, for a long time. While listening to individual tracks on the release, you do start to say to yourself, “hey this sounds liks Entombed” or “this sounds like Dismember.” In a way, that can be a good thing and that can be a bad thing.

For starters, they are emulating some classic death metal bands, so if you are going to copy another artist’s style, you could do much worse than copying the masters of the classic death metal genre. On the other hand, I would much rather have heard a little more diversity in their sound and something that was a little more their own. Believe me, I am not saying that Undead Creep is plagiarizing anyone’s work. They are paying homage to other artists with every growl and every crunching riff. I would just have loved to hear something a little more personal and from their blackened hearts.

Enough negativity though, because The Ever-Burning Torch does bring you to your knees while listening to this classic death metal ensemble of tracks. The album bleeds classic death metal tones and is definitely for fans Entombed and Dismember. I am just not sure how much replay value the album has though for fans that are newer to the genre as it is not fresh and ripe with new ideas and melodies. The album certainly grabs your attention during the first few track, but the flame of their “Ever-Burning Torch” seems to fizzle quickly and the album does not hold much repetition value.